Showdown: Texas and the TSA

Recently the Texas House voted unanimously to ban the Transportation Security Administration from conducting invasive pat-downs in Texas airports. As the bill went to the Senate for final passage, the Justice Department sent a letter to legislators, threatening a cancellation of all flights in and out of the state, if the bill were passed in the Senate. According to Sen. Dan Patrick of Houston, “two TSA people” showed up to sway Senators from voting on the bill, which had passed the House 138-0.

“This is a case when the federal government is bullying Texas,” Patrick said. “And apparently they bullied the Lieutenant Governor.”